Heat-responsive apparatus



April 24, 1 28. 1,667,425

A. J. LOEPSINGER HEAT REsPoNsIvE APPARATUS Filed A112. 27, 1921 nun U' J E"? J A/bert J. Loeps/r/yer INVENTOR ATTORNEYS.

Y/lli Patented Apr. 24, 1928.

UNITED STATES PEA ALBERT J. mmm OFYPRQVIDENCEF mmnmsmnb; AssIGNoR; BY'MESN Il as;

SIGNMENTS, TQ GENERAL FIRE EXTINGUISI-IER COMPANY, or PROVIDENCE,

RHODE ISLAND; A CORPORATION ornEL ARE.

' HE'AT-RESPONSIVE; IAPPARATUS."

" Iilllpplication filed August 27, 192i. Serial at; 496,011.; i

This invention relates to processes for detectlng and locating fire, andto apparatus therefor and for extinguishing the fire thus located. It is hereindescribed and illustrated as it may beapplied in connection ith'an abnormal; but these are actuatedionlyby' temperatures at the device itself. It is Well known that in a considerable portion of all fires occurring in sprinklerrprotected property, perhaps as many as a third ofthem the sprinkler which first opens is not the one in position to extinguish the fire. This is because a current ofair has carried the heat to oneside'. lsometimesasprinkler opens when no fire has occurred, the temperature in its vicinity having beenraised to the critical point by some ordinary cause. such as heat from a boiler in the Vicinity. It is the object of the invention to eliminatetl'le short comings of present methods and apparatus illustrated by the two cases mentioned, and to make the improvements and obtain the ad vantages that in other respects characterize the process and'apparatus hereinafter described. These objects are attained by selecting a portion of that part oithe: heat emanating from a "lire, which travels in straight lines. The invention i not dependent upon a rise in "ten'iperature of the air in the vicinity of thesprinkler or other sensitive apparatus, although'there may be such arise, nor need the apparatus-be located over the area which it protects. It may .in-

deed be screened or enclosed. I

In considering thet'ollowing exposition the distinction mustbe bornein mind between the three several methods by which heat is transmitted, conduction, convection and radiation. Automatic thermostats and sprinklers asVheretoforeflinstalled have been worked by heat reaching them byconvection. Theheat movingby conduction and by radiation is ltooflow 1 in intensity and too small in uantity to eifect so smallsand so remote a tnng as the strut of ail-automatic sprinkler, .But -iif, and. when acurrent of.

heated air and gases rises and moves to the the strutbegins to acquire the temperatureof the air, or-other gaseous mediumsurroundmg [1 t,;,or the" p pes leading to it, are still location of, the sprinkler, and envelopes it,

unchanged in temperature, or not, sufliciently, changed to actuate 1t. T0 gain these' va--' r ousadvantages, the invention takes a part 1 oftheheatavhicl1 has, heretofore beenineffcctive to operate the responding device becausefof being too weakbut whichihas the characteristic that propagation is 1ndependentpf wind currents and vwhich vthereforeaffords a reliable. index of direc tion, y Experiments show that this variety,

known a's radiant heat,when gathered from a reasonable area of flame and deflected and concentrated, upon a relatively small spot is, sufiicient in quantity to'cause the device to respond. The. deflection is preferably so; V

accomplished by reflectionfrom a concave'. n'nrror, whose surface may beia surface of revolution of an hyperbolic. or other conic section. Such a mirror may set so as to recelve rays of radiant heat coming from adelimfted area, i.-e., the area that is ,to be protected. -As the, heat responsive .strut ofqthe sprinkler, or the heat receivingpart ot the thermostat, is never a mere mathe matical point, raysdo not have to be reflected to an exact focus in order to be interrupted. And it is not essential that all the rays falling within the area ofthe 'refiectingfsurface be deflectedby it, for the apparatusis substantially asceflective whenopenings are,

provided in the surface to permit a portion of the sprinkler discharge to pass therethrough for protecting the area beyond. If; is. ob

YlCllS thatsuchiopenings also permit passage of heat rays, but the number gomgthrough' is so-jsmall, COlIlPllllGClWV'lth the numberfdeflected, that their loss isentirely negligible.

Q ,I't:,is among theadvantages of the invention that apparatus operated by it in'iayefl'ec- .tively: beplaced to one sideof the region to which it'relates, as in the corner of a room where its. presence 18 IDCODSPICIOUS'OI horizontally beside something that is to be proes d The ac e may b i tfa r in turn may operate or release anything desired, such as a dry pipe valve, a fire door, the drain or the cover of a tank, or an alarm, The showing of the inventlon herein made illustrates 'typical instances of its applications in these various fields. It is intended that'the patentshall cover by suitable expression in the appended claims, whatever features of patentable novelty exist in the invention disclosed.

n15. the accompanying drawings, which are more orlessdiagrammatici igure lis af sid e elevation of apparatus embodying theinven'tionj i Fig-me 2fmay be Considered as an elevation showing how the device can be applied inconspicuously in thecorners of" a room;

Figure 3 shows a clusterof three such deviceswvhi'eh, although at a single location, would beresponsive to the at any of three different, regions;

Figure 4 illustrates the applicationot the sanie'tofa thermostat; and I Figure 5 illustrates its application to a thermostat operating a release box which op n s a. dry pipe, valte for a deluge system of'sprinklers. l

In the drawings, throughout the several figurespthe' reference character 1 indicates afreflectorio'r heat which may be of any suitable material and-shape, being in Figure imdmueu on arms 2 that spring from the sprinklenbody. In Figure 3 reflectors are mounted on branches 22 froni a short stem 23 or other tormof support which "l es-- tened directly to theceiling ll. The strut 4; the:sprinkler is set substantiallyat the focus ofthe mirror. In a case such as that of Figure l most'ot the water is deflected downward by the deflector 3* on the sprinkler head. In consequence the presence. of the heat reflecting mirror 1 as a hood over the sprinkler does no harm. However, if the ceiling were combustible and it were desired to wet the surface directly above the sprinkler head,tlie'reflector 1' might be perfo 'ated to permit the passage of water, as shown in Fig. lfwherethe perforations are num bered 1. 1 r

' The arrangement illustrated in Figure 2 shows 'an insfiallfitiou that may be made where sprinkler pipes 5 are located in the angletormedbet-ween the walls 6 and ceiling 3; The reflectors are placed on an inclined axis and thus are in position to receiue heat radiated from a lire in the middle of the room, even though the gas and air currents items, which is a matter of i' poi-tau tion in certain classes of buildings.

' determined function.

direction.

The invention affords means of reducing the expense of installation ofsprinklersys- V i, I i cause it is only the matterof eigp enselwhich at the presenttime prevents tli'e'ir installa- The invention permits saving by cutting down the number of heads used, and thus saving piping expenses, which is possible because of proximity of sprinkler headsat present thought necessary is not required by thespraying deshould' take the heat byconvection in any vice, but due to the need for insuring pron' pt' action of the extinguishing device; It; is practicable with the pr ent invention to extend greatly the spacin kler heads andayet to provide adequateiprotection. I One wayof accomplishing thisris by arrangingthe sprinkler andirefieetors in clusters as shown in Figure zlnflthis case the reflectors are so place'dxthateach will receive rays of heatradiatingi from, the particular area towhich each applies, thegroup as a whole protecting alarge areaiwithezutn sprinkler and reflector pertaining to, a par: ticular section of it;

i Inorder to operate a fire door or. window to preventthe spread ofa fire,a reflector may be arranged to concentrate the radiant heat from a fire on the fusible link or other responsive part of thereleasing system. So, also,- ar reflector may operate with other dc.- vices, as for. example, the socalled rate-oirise devices which. operate when there is, a rise of temperaturegreater thanvthat which occurs under normalzconditions of temper: ture change in a room. A device of'extreme sensitiveness of thi-s'na'ture is shown in Figure l where a glass bulb 7 is provided in ietweent spriin the focus of therefiector ,1, connected by a tube with a glass bulb St-Which is outside, of the reflector and subject to similar general conditions of room temperature. but not subject tothe action of the reflector. The two bulbs are connected through a tube 9 having a relatively small bore and formed with a dip portion comprising a shallow U wherein a threadof mercury 10 normallyrests. An electric conductor 11 leads intothej bottom of uwu and is in contact with the mercury;

the other conductor 1205 the same circuit leads into the tube just above the end of the mercury thread, on the side toward the bulb 8. Under normal conditions bulbs 7 and 8 are heated equally and are cooled equally anol the mercury remains in thebottom ofthe U. But when, heat raysfrom a fire are concentrated upon, the; bulb 7' the air in this bulb expands driving the mercury along its tube untilcontact is. made withthc conductor 12, thus completinga circuit which may be used to performany desired pre- The, applications, of the device to make a deluge system of fire use in) k All protection automatic, is illustrated in F igure where a series of open sprinklers are shown at 13 and 14: to which water is vadmitted when the dry pipe valve 18 is open. Thermostats 15', arranged at any desired location with reflectors for concentrating upon them rays which originally emanate from the region to be protected, can be arranged wherever desired and these thermostats may be of any suitable type, asfor example arranged to close a circuitthrough wires 16 so that a current flows; or to break the circuit so that some force is released, with the result of causing the opening of the valve 18 by suitable mechanism. 1

The deflector may be of any desired shape which will accomplish the functions-stated; as for example, it. may be hyperbolic to gather heat from a considerable area concentrating it, or it may be parabolic, or made of other conic sections. Moreover the heat concentrating device is not necessarily a reflector.

When the axis of the device is inclined to the protective surface, it will cover a larger area than if directly over it; and the water thrown from the sprinkler so arranged may extend further. of sprinklers without interfering so much with the decorative scheme of an apartment. The shape of the areato-which the deflector and sprinkler are responsive may permit the use of sprinklers in places where they are not ordinarily practicable, for the wall of the' reflector may protect the strut ofthe sprinkler from an adjacent surfacewhich is known to be hot normally. Anothercharacteristic advantage of the invention is'that it permits the use of a sprinkler whose strut has a. higher melting point, because the temperature thereof can quicklybe raised by the concentration of heat, caused by the deflector.

A sprinkler can then be used which requires a source of heat of considerable intensity to melt it, so that the ordinary temperature of a hot room cannot work. the sprinkler (say above 160 degrees) as it may where 'the sprinkler is set to operate at the lower temperature usually desired. These advantages are additional to those others which follow from the operation of-the sprinkler by radiant heat in the direction of promptness,

This permits the planning because of the instantaneous transmission of that form of heat; and without detracting fromthe responsivenessof the sprinkler or any th ng further that may come to it by convection as in apparatus heretofore known.-

I claimas my invention:

1. Heat responsive apparatus adapted to be controlled by the occurrence of a fire in a predetermined region, comprising means for concentrating heat rays emanating from said region combined with heat responsive means located at the point of concentration.

2. Heat responsive apparatus adapted to be controlled by the occurrence of'a fire in a predetermined region, comprising means having a reflecting surface for concentrating heat rays emanating from said region combined with heat responsive means located at the point of concentration.

3. Heat responsive apparatus adapted to be controlled by the occurrence of a fire in a predetermined region, comprising means having a reflecting surface, formed by the revolution of a conic section, for concentrating heat rays emanating from said region combined with heat responsive means located at the point of concentration.

4. An automatic sprinkler adapted to discharge over a regionrcombined with means adapted to gather heat rays from the said region at the heat responsive part of said sprinkler, said means comprising a reflecting surface haying openings therein for permittmg passage of fluid beyond the said surface.

5. In heat responsive apparatus, means for which is to be protected thereby, and. a

device larger than the heat responsive part of the. sprinkler for receiving and concen-fl tratingon said heat responsive part heat emanating from said region.

Signed at Boston, Massachusetts, this 24th day of August, 1921.

ALBERT J. LOEPSINGER. 

